DIS•ARTICULATIONS 2017: NOVEMBER POEMS

This poem was written byTanya Ko Hongusing words generated by Terry Wolverton through fevered writing. Tanya’s comments on the process of writing the poem appear below.

The War Still Inside You

“For Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982)”

Tonight my tongue cuts galaxy
black bones be fire
a crying cello drifting
if I open my mouth
I will be sent to the Taklimakan
Desert a graveyard
The silence of a thousand skulls
Endless black
Nothing can live
My eyes a flame
I never talk about the battleground
My secret burns there
My silence is your mouth
My skull the house of story
My jaw hinges
starlight, dirt,
devastation in a capsule

1. Writing guideline gave me freedom & discomfort at the same time.2. I was obsessed about finding the ‘right prompts’ even though that I know there are not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ prompts.3. Fevered writing was amazing. I was focused and tense, I didn’t want to stop to write. I had layers and layers of idea for writing. Fevered writing can be a great task when we have writer’s block. My new motto: “Just write for 3 minutes.”4. One of the best parts was inviting and encouraging other writers to write a poem and submit. What a joy to read the submitted poems!5. Deadline was my fuel. 6. Thank you, Terry Wolverton for the invitation & collaboration. I loved each stage of the project.

This poem was written byTerry Wolvertonusing words generated by Tanya Ko Hong through fevered writing.

STARFISH
I am a foreigner in my own
country, a country that was never
mine. My people shot their way in, parked
their guns in the schoolyard, brought
gifts of fever and order, blueprint
of nation and shame. In our hunger
we swallowed nature, tasted its dried
blood on the ground.We divided the
circle, took the biggest piece. Did not
ask or hear the answer. Made ourselves
forget the origins, invented
a language of dollars and rights,
our rights to steal the blind hours, ashes
of memory. If we think we are
geniuses, others know us as
monsters.We can never pay what we
owe, just buy more guns and documents.
We live on pink pills to stomach our
breakfast of leftover bone and tears.
Round up the children, who fear tigers,
not us; tell them there is no home here.
Accuse them of their bad teeth and hair;
remind them who has power, not them.
I am foreignin a country that
was never mine. I dream the green wind,
a road, a door that will not open.
A fallen starfish in morning sun.

DIS•ARTICULATIONS 2017: NOVEMBER POEMS was last modified: November 29th, 2017 by Terry Wolverton

Terry Wolverton is a literary artist who has published ten books of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, including Insurgent Muse: life and art at the Woman’s Building, a memoir, and Embers, a novel in poems. She has also edited fifteen literary anthologies. She is the founder of Writers At Work, a creative writing studio in Los Angeles, and Affiliate Faculty in the MFA Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. She is also a certified instructor of Kundalini Yoga. http://terrywolverton.com

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